Oh good - more money for education.

[jdkmunch]

I love stuff like this.....

In RI the local Catholic high school charges $8,000 per year for a student. 

The public high school that's 5 blocks away gets $29,000 in tax revenue per student.   Yet the Catholic school has a much better reputation and is busting at the seams where the public school is known as *less then sub par. 

Then int the article I read this:

"Within a few years, the mall casino could generate more than $500 million a year, about half of which would be earmarked for state education programs, according to consultants hired by the state. The county would also get a cut of the proceeds."


How much cash can you throw at a problem before realizing that it's not the answer??   

[reho33]

Rendell in PA wants 5 video poker machines per bar. That revenue would be used for PA college funding.

[rickhunter]

While there are obvious "inefficiencies" in the public school systems, the difference is not quite as wide when you consider the "hidden" costs of private schools.  I found this out when I was doing an actual cost comparison between public and private school for my child.  A disclaimer follows, while my statements are not an endorsement one way or the other, this is what I found to be objective from  a pure bottom line.

This is the case in South Florida, but I would think it's the same case everywhere.

In general a catholic school will cost less than a non-religious school.  The local archdiocese will contribute money in the way of general grants to the catholic schools, this helps to lower the cost of tuition, the caveat is that if you want to put your child on a catholic school, you must be "enrolled" in a local church and be a contributing member.  Now I have not heard of a "minimum" donation, but you must have an "account" with your local church.  This explains part of the cost.

The other part comes in hidden costs that most people don't think about.  Private school students must pay for all their books, supplies, transportation and "school activity" fees.  While this probably does not account for all the difference, it certainly is quite a bit.  Public schools here in South Florida ask for an "initial" supply of copy paper and other misc school supplies, but it rarely goes over $100.  Books, transportation (if you are more than 2 miles away from the school), and even lunches (if you qualify) are free.  Public schools do not charge a fee for your child to say be in the football team, this is not the case in private schools, where the "activity" fee must be paid whether your child participates or not.

In South Florida, the requirements for a teaching job are MORE STRINGENT than those of a private school.  I have several friends who are teachers, and they work in public schools because the pay is better.   You will be shocked to learn what some of the private school have for teachers and what they get paid, but I know of a lot of teachers who had to begin their careers in a private school so they could be hired by a public school.  Now I'm not saying that all private schools have inferior teachers, as this is not the case, but when evaluating private schools, one of the things to look for is a teaching staff who have been there for a prolonged period of time as turnover is a problem in certain schools.

The private school I tried to get my son in charges $14,000 a year plus the activity fees, etc.  It was going to be around $19,000 a year after you factor in the annual "voluntary" alumnus contribution to the school.  In the end I put him in my local public school and put away the $19,000 per year on a ROTH IRA for the time when he enters 5th grade as I'm told this is the time when most of the "good" private schools open up space for more kids.  I am a product of the public school system and while things have changed a lot, there's 1 thing that is definitely always true.  You get out of it what you put in it, so if your child has good school habits and parents participate in his education, he will turn out all right.  If that is not the case, no matter how much money you spend on a private school, you'll get a bad result.

[rdaniel]

Well said rickhunter

[tjkeller]

Good points Rick. 
I apply your final point to just about everything..."You get out of it what you put in it"
as well the philosophy Where there is a will there is a way. It's all about determination. 

START   (cause it's what I do )

Now to be on topic, CLEARLY we have educational issues in this Country. We do have some GREAT Schools and we have plenty that aren't so great.
Time after time $$$$ is to blame. I believe this to be somewhat true. I've known many teachers and even have a few in my family. It's no different
than in the Business world. If you want to attract talent...you need to pay for it. It is ridiculous to me that one of the MOST important jobs we have
is one of the LEAST compensated. That being teachers/educators. It is amazing how much it varies from State to State too. EVERY child/person is
to be educated in order to survive. The extent of their education is certainly contributory to there success. What kills me is I think everyone realizes
that but look what we are doing. PAY THE TEACHERS! Heck, anymore, fewer and fewer are aspiring to be teachers...not a good trend.

The FIRST problem in our education system, I THINK, is the fact we took away discipline. WE didn't have the problems in school you see these days.
Could you imagine, as a child, bringing a GUN to school?!! Heck, I was just afraid to speak the wrong word! Being sent to the Principal's Office was a
thing to be feared. That only after your Teacher was done with you. Nowadays these kids get away with everything cause we don't let the people
we charge them with discipline them. Now that doesn't mean we need to beat them to death but a "swat" never killed anybody. They shouldn't come
out black & blue but something as simple is certainly humbling and reiterates wrongdoing and what is right and what is wrong. To top it off, NEVER did
I fear the "swat" MORE than when I got home and Dad found out. Either way, it certainly kept kids inline. It is natural for adolescents to challenge
authority but we have taken the authority away.

So as far as the $$$$. You're right Rick....there's a point that throwing more and more money at a problem is not always the resolution. That said,
money SHOULD be appropriated better in order to ensure we have the BEST people in the position. To jdkmunch's point, many years ago I was
in Nebraska (home) when our County introduced Keno. Nebraska, as most of you know, is a biggy against the whole gambling thing so this Keno
deal was HUGE. It came in operated by the County on the guise that the proceeds would benefit #1 Schools/Education System, #2 Roads, and #3
County & Local Gov't. Needless to say approval flew in a landslide and Keno was brought in. Not long thereafter came Scratch Cards & PowerBall.
ALL of which cited proceeds to Education. Well, I forget the year now but in my hometown we had 3 Schools that were in need of repair and
updating as they were the quintessential old Brick Bldgs built in 1800s like you see throughout the midwest so no surprise. Well the City come out
and wanted to increase SALES TAX in order to pay for it. This obviously created uproar!...WHERE the freak is all this money from Keno & Lotto that's
supposed to be going #1 to Schools & Education System!??? Needless to say the increase in Tax was pummeled in Public Vote. SOOooo, What
happened?....the City/County CLOSED THE SCHOOLS!...now this placed an increased burden upon the rest of the Schools as they had to increase in
capacity and Parents had to figure out how & where to send their children. This is also when open choice was adopted to where you could enroll your
children in any school in the county that you wanted. That in turn also created problems cause like anywhere else, there were certainly preferred
schools. Well, to this day, this is how it is. Still have Keno & Lotto and not ONE new School has been built and those old ones just sit there.

So, WHERE did/does the money go?....Good Question. Don't see it in the Roads either cause most of the road work is payed for by Fed Grants.
What you CAN see is New Police Cars and increased pay to Gov't Officials (NOT Teachers). I believe that the only gain to the education system was
increase in salary to Superintendent and County/District Admin. This is just another reason, for me, to despise that State.

I always get leery of seeing these stories of "gambling" being introduced to provide more income for "education programs". There needs to be VERY
specific guidelines as to what qualifies as an "educational program".

END

[jdkmunch]

I agree 

[StatFreak]

...
So, WHERE did/does the money go?....Good Question. Don't see it in the Roads either cause most of the road work is payed for by Fed Grants.
What you CAN see is New Police Cars and increased pay to Gov't Officials (NOT Teachers). I believe that the only gain to the education system was
increase in salary to Superintendent and County/District Admin. This is just another reason, for me, to despise that State.

I always get leery of seeing these stories of "gambling" being introduced to provide more income for "education programs". There needs to be VERY
specific guidelines as to what qualifies as an "educational program".
...

There's no reason to single out your state as the target of your anger: politics is corrupt everywhere. You can substitute [Insert your state here] for "Nebraska" in your text and it wouldn't make any difference. States pushed gambling out of greed, not to help anyone.

The rouse was the same in California. Once the lottery initiative passed and was in place back in the mid '80s, the Governor quietly lowered the state's educational budget by the same amount that the lottery was bringing in. The gambling money did go into the education system, and thus they could tell the people that the lottery revenue was being used as intended while actually siphoning it off for their own pet projects.

Meanwhile, the other hushed up story was that the company given the contract to manufacture the scratch off tickets became an overnight gold mine for its owners as it was basically a license to print money. They had quietly lobbied hard to get the state lottery initiative passed, and had probably put some money in a few pockets along the way to ensure that they got the exclusive contract.


Here's a fun little gub-mint document detailing state educational rankings as of 2007 commissioned by the state of Kentucky.
http://www.lrc.ky.gov/lrcpubs/RR345.pdf